May 27, 2020

Footage of packed pool party at Houston club draws criticism

A Houston club is under fire after footage surfaced of it hosting busy pool parties over Memorial Day weekend, despite state social distancing guidelines.

Video of a pool party on Saturday at Clé Houston, a club in the city’s Midtown, shows a crowded outdoor gathering with no masks in sight.

Bars and clubs were allowed to reopen in Texas after COVID-19 lockdowns, but only at 25 percent capacity. It was not clear what percentage capacity Clé Houston had reached during the weekend pool parties. The club could not immediately be reached on Monday by NBC News.

Houston's fire chief, Samuel Pena, said on Twitter that his department has responded to about 300 complaints of violations of the governor’s reopening orders over Memorial Day weekend.

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/footage-packed-pool-party-houston-151247419.html

May 27, 2020

Private equity investor pays off tuition for graduates of Spelman College

After Robert Smith, the wealthiest African-American in the United States, pledged to pay off the student loans of the 2019 class of Morehouse College, he issued a challenge to others in his position to follow suit.

“I’ve got the alumni over there and this is a challenge to you alumni,” said Smith. “Let’s make sure every class has the same opportunity going forward. Because we are enough to take care of our own community.”

The $34 million gift inspired Frank Baker, who has also reportedly known Smith for years.

Baker is similar to Smith in many regards. Both found business success by starting a private equity firm that invests in technology companies and both started their Wall Street careers in 1994 in the mergers and acquisitions group of Goldman Sachs.

Read more: https://www.phillytrib.com/news/across_america/private-equity-investor-pays-off-tuition-for-graduates-of-spelman-college/article_65c09482-9f50-11ea-9396-d35172ab6168.html

May 26, 2020

Democratic leaders decry Chris Roland's mailers spreading falsehoods about Summer Lee

The lines in the Pennsylvania state House District 34 Democratic primary are pretty clear cut. State Rep. Summer Lee (D-Swissvale) is a progressive incumbent who is anti-fracking and supports bold reforms to the state’s criminal justice and policing system. Her challenger, North Braddock borough councilor Chris Roland, has garnered support from pro-fracking politicians and unions, and has said that police unions should be consulted in policy changes, like consolidating police departments.

As Democrats, both Lee and Roland agree on a lot when it comes to minimum wage increases, LGBTQ rights, and supporting public education. Because of these similarities, observers might expect the campaigns to be about fracking and policing.

But Roland has gone a different direction, and it is raising the ire of some prominent Democrats.

This month, the Roland campaign has been sending mailers to Democratic voters that accuse Lee of voting “to make it easier for convicted sex offenders to work in schools, and day-care centers, putting our kids in danger.” Pittsburgh City Paper obtained screenshots of two different mailers that accuse Lee of this serious charge in bold letters.

Read more: https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/democratic-leaders-decry-chris-rolands-mailers-spreading-falsehoods-about-summer-lee/Content?oid=17331084

May 26, 2020

Latam Airlines seeks bankruptcy protection as travel slumps

BANGKOK -- Latam Airlines, South America’s biggest carrier, sought U.S. bankruptcy protection Tuesday as it grapples with a sharp downturn in air travel sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing underscores the severity of the financial challenges facing the travel industry as a result of the lockdowns, quarantines and other measures taken by governments the world over to stem the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Passenger and cargo flights will continue to operate during the reorganization, and employees will still be paid, the Santiago, Chile-based airline said. Travelers with existing tickets and vouchers can still use them.

Chief Executive Roberto Alvo said Latam was profitable before the pandemic brought most of the world's flights to a halt, but is now facing a “collapse in global demand.”

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/latam-airlines-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection-70876301

May 26, 2020

Novavax trials COVID-19 vaccine candidate in Australia

CANBERRA, Australia — A U.S. biotechnology company began injecting a coronavirus vaccine candidate into people in Australia on Tuesday with hopes of releasing a proven vaccine this year.

Novavax will inject 131 volunteers in the first phase of the trial testing the safety of the vaccine and looking for signs of its effectiveness, the company’s research chief Dr. Gregory Glenn said.

About a dozen experimental vaccines against the coronavirus are in early stages of testing or poised to start, mostly in China, the U.S. and Europe. It’s not clear that any will prove safe and effective. But many work in different ways, and are made with different technologies, increasing the odds that at least one approach might succeed.

“We are in parallel making doses, making vaccine in anticipation that we’ll be able to show it’s working and be able to start deploying it by the end of this year,” Dr. Glenn told a virtual news conference in Melbourne from Novavax’ headquarters in Maryland.

Read more: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/covid-19-meds/2020/05/26/Novavax-trials-COVID-19-vaccine-candidate-in-Australia-coronavirus/stories/202005260046
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

May 26, 2020

On Memorial Day, Trump insults Marine Corps veteran Conor Lamb by calling him 'American fraud'

On Memorial Day, President Trump called Marine reserve officer and Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb an “American fraud” on Twitter.

Almost a week before the state’s primary, Trump threw his support toward Sean Parnell, an Army combat veteran from Cranberry, who is running for Lamb’s seat in the 17th Congressional District.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1264988227980742662

And then there were the facts.

Trump misspelled Lamb’s name, with “Connor Lamm.” Then he said Lamb, a Democrat from Mt. Lebanon, voted for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House in 2019. Lamb was one of more than a dozen Democrats to not vote for Pelosi.

Trump also claimed Lamb would help to “kill” the Second Amendment and showed his anger about Lamb’s votes to impeach him in December.

Read more: https://triblive.com/news/politics-election/on-memorial-day-trump-insults-marines-corps-veteran-conor-lamb-by-calling-him-american-fraud/
(Pittsburgh Tribune Review)

May 26, 2020

All Pa. counties will be in 'yellow' coronavirus reopening phase by June 5 under Wolf administration

All Pa. counties will be in ‘yellow’ coronavirus reopening phase by June 5 under Wolf administration plan


HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania counties still under strict coronavirus restrictions — including hard-hit Philadelphia, its suburbs, and the Lehigh Valley — will move to the “yellow” reopening phase on June 5, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Friday.

“My stay-at-home order did exactly what it was intended to do: It saved lives,” Wolf said during a news conference, as he touted the state’s progress containing COVID-19. “Over the past two weeks, we have seen sustained reductions in hospitalizations. … Our new case rate has been shrinking.”

The announcement comes as the governor faces increasing political pressure to ease shutdown measures that have decimated local economies and resulted in more than two million residents seeking jobless benefits.

By June 5, Wolf said all counties will at least be in the yellow phase of his tiered reopening plan. The last to go will be Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lehigh, Northampton, Montgomery, and Philadelphia — counties that have yet to meet a case-decline standard Wolf’s administration established to determine when areas can safely begin loosening lockdown orders.

Read more: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2020/05/pennsylvania-yellow-phase-counties-june-5/

May 26, 2020

What's going on in Trenton? Mayor, 2 on council face recall in midst of coronavirus pandemic.

It was the call heard 'round the world.

A May 2 virtual meeting meant for Trenton officials to discuss fighting the devastating coronavirus in the Capital City devolved into a mudslinging free-for-all of homophobic slurs and insults.

Of course, someone leaked the audio, and the next day the mayor released it to the media.

Now three weeks later, after sheepish explanations were offered and apologies uttered, the city’s government is still inching towards a political meltdown.

Trenton’s mayor and two of its city council members now face the threat of recall.

Read more: https://www.nj.com/news/2020/05/whats-going-on-in-trenton-mayor-2-on-council-face-recall-in-midst-of-coronavirus-pandemic.html

May 26, 2020

COVID-19 'outbreak' declared after 88 inmates infected at Mercer County jail

An "outbreak" of COVID-19 has infected nearly 30 percent of the Mercer County Correction Center's 302 inmates, county officials acknowledged.

Positive cases of the deadly virus jumped from five as of May 12 to 88 nine days later, county officials said, with results of least another 50 tests pending.

Officials insisted "nearly all" the inmates who are positive for the virus were asymptomatic, which is contradicted by what dozens of inmates and their loved ones told The Trentonian in interviews over the past week.

Some of the inmates exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms were allowed to remain in general population for weeks until positive test results returned, increasing the chances that they'd infect other inmates, attorneys and inmates said.

Read more: https://www.trentonian.com/news/covid-19-outbreak-declared-after-88-inmates-infected-at-mercer-county-jail/article_540d6056-9e94-11ea-9650-17bb006764d9.html

May 26, 2020

Lawmakers join call for N.J. to reopen at rally that brought hundreds to Jersey Shore

New Jersey lawmakers appearing at rally in Point Pleasant Beach on Monday called on Gov. Phil Murphy to reopen houses of worship and nonessential business that have been shuttered for more than two months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to several hundred protestors at the Freedom March of New Jersey near the town’s mostly closed boardwalk, state Sen. Joe Pennacchio, R-Morris, addressed a Memorial Day gathering of hundreds of people waving American flags and chanting “Open New Jersey now!.”

“Your freedoms were brought to you by the men and women who fought for them," Pennacchio said. "These freedoms are being denied under the guise of public health. There’s very little science involved and certainly no common sense.”

Pennachio also hit on a talking point common repeated by those who want nonessential businesses to again welcome customers in their store.

Read more: https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/05/lawmakers-join-call-for-nj-to-reopen-at-rally-that-brought-hundreds-to-jersey-shore.html